• Question: What are the discoveries that have lead up to your current work?

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      Asked by MoneyMayweather (TMT) to John, Laura, Luke, Rob, Ruth on 16 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Luke Williams

        Luke Williams answered on 16 Jun 2016:

        For me, it is all of biotechnology, more or less. The discovery of DNA, the invention of polymerase chain reaction to enable the copying/production of small sections of DNA. DNA Sequencing to allow for the identification of the DNA you want. The discovery of my bacteria that I work with too, back in the 1970s.

        In addition, because I am looking at more sustainable methods of producing something, that means that the chemical can already be produced in some manner, and probably has already been used somewhere – I looked at a number of industrially relevant materials.

      • Photo: Laura Finney

        Laura Finney answered on 16 Jun 2016:

        Photosynthesis although discovered years and years ago is the basis of my work. Scientists figured out what molecules in plants allowed them to do photosynthesis and then extracted them from the plant. Photosynthesis only works when in sunlight so we shine sunlight on these molecules in my flasks and hey presto! We can do a reaction!
        We take inspiration from nature to do our chemistry as Nature is very clever 🙂

      • Photo: John Fossey

        John Fossey answered on 16 Jun 2016:

        Probably most important was the work of Pasteur on chirality, but I have been really influenced by the work of the 2001 Nobel Prize winners http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2001/ on asymmetric catalysis.
        The ability for humans to make and use 1 chiral tool (like nature does with enzymes) to make many many chiral products sounds obvious now but revolutionary not that long ago

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